Letter: U.S. needs patriots not politicians in Congress

Walter SaulsSt. Augustine

Published Wednesday, August 06, 2008

Editor: In the past 75 years, the United States has faced many actual and apparent national emergencies. We often call them wars or races to be won or lost. We won the war with Japan by building a massive arms industry and an atomic bomb in just a few years. We won the space race by creating a focused effort of space flight and space explorations. However, we lost the "War on Drugs" and the "War on Poverty." They were both social engineering efforts that usually fail in a free society.

Now we discover we have an energy crisis and a global warming crisis, both needing immediate attention.

Our members of Congress, many who have been in Washington for decades, have refused to be patriots; they've been politicians. We have allowed it because they brought home the pork project every few years. We did not demand mending the boat when the leak started and now the buckets are not big enough.

From this crisis, is the possibility for us to rally and turn the tables if only we will be patient. It will not happen tomorrow. We need another Manhattan Project that brings the best minds, the best money and the national security of this nation to bear over the next 8-10 years. Every option should be on the table, in aggregate. If it takes a combination of conservation, drilling, nuclear, wind, solar, batteries, hydrogen to span the gap, encourage it to happen.

When you encounter someone who says, "We can't do this" or "we can't do that," think back to the Revolutionary War. Every state and community sacrificed something or went to the gallows for treason.

Rent the movie "The Patriot" with Mel Gibson and Heath Ledger and ask yourself, what have I really sacrificed for this country?